


it’s a love story (baby, just say yes)

by icepools



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29440215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icepools/pseuds/icepools
Summary: When they get home, Lucas practically runs into the house, throws their coat and backpack on the ground in the front entrance, and makes their way to the basement where they keep their craft supplies.They’re gonna make Will the best Valentine ever.or: two valentine’s days, ten years apart.
Relationships: Will Byers/Lucas Sinclair
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	it’s a love story (baby, just say yes)

**Author's Note:**

> happy (late) vday <3  
> title from “love story (taylor’s version)” by taylor swift

Lucas has only known of Will Byers for six hours, but they know they are going to be best friends. 

Will is new in town, and new to Lucas’ school. He walked into the classroom shortly after everyone had found their seats on the carpet, and Lucas had caught sight of his weird bowl cut and big sweater and thought, _yes, that’s him, there’s my best friend._

But they’re too scared to talk to him all day. They watch him colour, watch him read, watch him eat his lunch out of his _Star Wars_ lunch bag, but they do not talk to him. 

When the day ends, and their mom picks them up in the car with their little sister in the backseat, they say, “How do I ask Will to be friends with me?”

Mrs Sinclair, of course, does not know who Will is. She laughs softly and says to them, “Slow down, partner. Start from the beginning. Who’s Will?”

“Oh!” Right! She doesn’t know that yet. “He’s a new kid. Today was his first day at school, and he’s in my class. He’s super cool, mom. I saw one of his drawings, and it was so _good._ I was too scared to talk to him and ask him to be my friend, but I _really_ wanna be his friend.”

Mrs Sinclair stops, thinks for a moment, then says, “Well, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, right? Why don’t you give him a Valentine and start a conversation? That gives you a reason to talk to him, right?”

Lucas isn’t at all surprised at how smart their mom is. “That’s perfect! Can we go buy one now?”

Lucas’ mom looks at them like they’re crazy, pulling out of the school parking lot. Lucas scans the lot to see if they can find Will. They can’t. 

“Don’t you think it’s better to make it yourself? A handmade gift is much more meaningful than something store-bought.”

Lucas grins, already thinking about the crayon colours they have at home. “Yeah. I’ll make him a Valentine!”

Mrs Sinclair nods with a big, soft smile on her face, and starts the drive home. 

When they get home, Lucas practically runs into the house, throws their coat and backpack on the ground in the front entrance, and makes their way to the basement where they keep their craft supplies. 

They’re gonna make Will the best Valentine ever. 

Lucas digs around in the paper drawer, first. They find some pink construction paper that will be perfect. They’ll use the cool scissors that make the fancy edges, too. And glitter glue! Or maybe real glitter?

Before they can get carried away with that, their mom comes down to help them out. With her expert help, they take the paper, fun scissors, glitter _glue_ (apparently real glitter is too messy), stickers, and Lucas’ big set of one hundred twenty-eight crayons and create the perfect Valentine for Will. 

The end result is a little pink square with squiggly edges, red glitter glue along the sides, and heart stickers surrounding the message. In red, the Valentine reads _Will you be mine? To: Will From: Lucas._

Lucas _loves_ it. They hug their mom tightly when it’s finished and put it in their agenda pocket so it doesn’t get damaged.

The rest of the day passes by _so. Slowly._ Lucas can’t wait to go to bed so they can get to tomorrow already.

Their dad tells them to be patient, but their _mom_ tells them they could go to bed early and get a head start on moving forward in the week. 

Lucas likes her idea more than their dad’s, so after dinner is finished and cleaned up they get ready for bed. Just before they get into bed to sleep, they look at the Valentine they’ve made for Will. 

They smile, and climb into bed. 

They’ve got a big day tomorrow.

  
  
  


Lucas stands nervously in front of their classroom door. They left in the middle of their Valentine’s Day party to grab Will’s Valentine and also mentally prepare themself. 

They’re _scared._ Plain and simple. What if Will says no? He’s definitely too cool for them. They don’t even have any friends in this class. (Outside of it, yeah, they have Dustin, and Max and Micah, but no one with them now.)

Then again, neither does Will. 

Lucas opens the door, Valentine held tightly between their fingers, and marches up to Will’s desk. He’s sitting there colouring, snacking on the popcorn someone brought in, alone. 

Perfect. Lucas puts their hands behind their back, effectively hiding the card.

Their initial plan was to wait for him to notice them, but that goes out the window when they blurt out, “Hi,”

Will jumps and looks up at them, sweet brown eyes open wide. He doesn’t say anything. 

“I’m Lucas. I, um,” Lucas looks around. They’re supposed to bring a Valentine for everyone in the class, actually, and Lucas is definitely breaking the rules by doing this, so they don’t want to get caught. “I have something for you.”

They pull the Valentine out from behind them and hold it out in front of Will. He hesitates for a few seconds, but does take the card. He looks at it, reads it, runs his fingers across the raised texture of the glitter glue and the funny edges of the paper, then reads it again.

“This is for me?” he asks, finally. Lucas breathes out and nods.

“Yeah. My mom helped me make it. She said I could use it to ask you to be my friend.”

Will looks up at that, eyes even wider. “You wanna be my friend?”

“‘Course I do! I bet everyone wants to be your friend,”

Will shakes his head. “You’re the first person to talk to me.”

Oh. What? Lucas is the first person to..? But who wouldn’t..?

“Okay, well, um,” This is a lot of pressure. The first person to talk to Will? How can they live up to that level? “Do you? Wanna be mine?” they say, half-laughing, referencing the words on the Valentine.

Will pauses, smiles, laughs, and says, “Yeah, Lucas. I’ll be yours.”

He looks up at Lucas. His smile is amazing. Lucas could stare at him forever.

They smile back.

And that’s that.

* * *

The next year, Lucas gives Will another Valentine.

And the year after that. And the year after that, and the year after that.

A Valentine a year, for ten years. Lucas has never missed one. Not ever, and they don’t plan to.

For the first few years, they’re just funny and platonic. _Ur cool, txt me,_ stuff you’d see on a conversation heart. And that’s what Will gets every year. 

He’s never seen the other ones.

At around age thirteen, on the seventh Valentine’s Day, they write another one. Something more incriminating.

The card reads _I <3 you, _ and Lucas cries while they write it. It goes in a box in their closet that they avoid looking at. Will gets a card that says _U r sick._

The next year, the card is joined by another that says _You’re my soulmate._ The Valentine Will gets reads _I like ur sister more than u._

Etcetera, etcetera.

They’re seventeen now, and Lucas has an extensive collection of love confessions on pink and red construction paper hidden away in a little box behind all their stuff. Never to be seen by anyone. 

Initially, anyway. 

Because, hey, what better time to tell your best friend you’re in love with him than on your ten year friendship anniversary that also happens to be Valentine’s Day, right?

Lucas’ plan isn’t completely solid just yet, but they have the rest of the day to figure it out. It’s February 13th right now, so that’s enough time, isn’t it?

Though, they’re at Will’s right now, and it’s also nine o’clock at night, but it’s all good! They know exactly what they’re doing. 

Truly, they don’t, but then Will opens his closet to grab a sweater, and they catch sight of a cute little pink box with a bow on it that reads _Lucas’ Valentines!_

Which, hold the phone, _cute!_ He’s got a special box for them? God.

Seeing this box also makes Lucas realize that every Valentine they’ve given Will in the past is easily accessible to them. Including the original. 

They wait for Will to go to the bathroom, and when he’s gone they open up the closet, find the box, and dig through it until they find the first one they ever gave him. 

It’s suffered some damage over the years, the glitter glue dry and cracking and the edges of the paper ripped slightly. The crayon has also started to disappear, but the words are still legible, in little seven-year-old Lucas’ messy handwriting.

Lucas smiles, putting it in their back pocket. God, they were so naive…

(Well, okay, maybe they’re being a bit naive now, thinking this will work, but at least they’re a bit more mature than their seven-year-old self.)

Will comes back a few minutes later, and Lucas smiles at him warmly. He smiles back, and all the nerves wash away. 

They come back, of course, when they’ve gone home and gotten into bed. The card sits on their bedside table, teasing them, willing them not to take it tomorrow. 

Lucas shakes their head, rolling over so they don’t have to look at it anymore. They close their eyes tightly, trying to pretend the card isn’t staring at their back. They need to get to sleep. 

They’ve got a big day tomorrow.

  
  
  


Lucas stands in front of the mirror in Will’s bathroom, staring at their reflection.

They’ve got the Valentine in their hand, and another in their pocket in case it goes well. A last-minute decision, but they think it’s cute. 

All day today at school, Will asked about the card. _When do I get it? This is a big one, you know, ten years. Better be good. I swear to God, if you say you like El more again I’ll kill you._

And Lucas had to deflect it. _After school. I know, it’s crazy, can’t believe I’ve put up with you for this long. You will be severely disappointed, and it definitely mentions El a lot._

Will had believed them, and was excited when Lucas told him it would happen at his house after school. They’d watched him walk with a little skip in his step.

Now the time has come. They’re prepared for the absolute worst. Lucas is ready to say goodbye to their best friend forever. They’re okay with it, as long as they get this stupid crush thing out there.

“Lucas? Come on, I wanna see it!” Will calls from his bedroom, just down the hall. Crap.

“Yeah, hang on, I’m coming…” they yell back, not breaking eye contact with their reflection.

They’ve got this. They’re fine.

Lucas opens the door and marches up to Will’s bedroom, Valentine hid behind their back.

Will is sitting cross-legged in the middle of his double bed, fingers bouncing across his knee repeatedly. He lights up when he sees Lucas.

“Finally! Hand it over, I wanna see! This is the big one!” he laughs, leaning forward slightly. He sits back up straight a second later. “Oh, crap, have I been making this a big deal? I thought you’d do something cool, but it’s fine if you didn’t—”

“No! No, I did,” Lucas shakes their head, sitting down across from Will. He still can’t see the card. “I’m just a little nervous.”

Will tilts his head at that, “Nervous? But it’s just me.”

Lucas smiles bittersweetly. _Exactly._

“Okay, um, here it is. It’s nothing crazy, really, but…”

“Shut up, Lucas. Let me at it.”

Lucas huffs, and takes the Valentine out from behind their back. They pause for a split second, then hand it to Will.

They watch him intently for his reaction. It takes him a second to realize what it is, but when he does, it’s obvious. His eyes go bright and wide and a huge smile spreads across his face. Despite their nerves and the overwhelming feeling of dread they’re experiencing, Lucas smiles, too.

“It’s the first one you gave me,” he says, not lifting his gaze. “It’s perfect, Lucas. Better than anything I thought it could be.”

Okay, good start. Now Lucas just needs to get him to actually understand what they’re saying.

“Read it again, Will,” they whisper, and they sound like one of those stupid motivational posts, but it doesn’t matter. Will looks up at them, clearly confused.

“ _Will you be mine..?_ I don’t…”

“Again. Read it again.”

Will furrows his eyebrows, now, but Lucas sees his eyes dart across the paper, reading the messy handwriting. He shakes his head, frowning. “Lucas I really don’t know what you’re trying to do here.”

“Read it again, Will. Please.”

Will actually whines this time, frustrated at his inability to understand what’s going on. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Lucas is about ready to just call off their whole plan, but then…

“...Oh.”

Will is looking at them. Eyes wide and unbelieving. 

“If this is a joke it’s not funny. It’s really not funny, Lucas, just tell me it’s—”

Lucas shakes their head violently. “No. No, no no. Not a joke. You’re..?”

Will whimpers, nodding. Oh, fuck.

“Okay. Okay. Fuck. Hang on, I have another one,” they mumble, digging around their back pocket for the second Valentine, one from their hidden stash of confessions. When they find it, they waste no time in handing it over to Will. He takes it, reads it over, then looks up at Lucas.

“You really mean it?” he asks quietly. His voice is shaking. He looks like he’s holding his breath. Lucas glances at the card in his hand. _Kiss me,_ it says, in three-dimensional foam stickers. They swallow, and nod.

Will leans forward, _Kiss me_ Valentine in hand. And does just that.

There’s no fireworks. No explosions, no fanfare. It’s just Will and Lucas as they’ve always been meant to be. One.

Will’s hands cup Lucas’ face, the rough texture of the paper scratching their cheek, but they don’t mind. They wrap their arms around his soft waist and pull him closer, so he’s practically in their lap.

Neither pulls away for a long time. They’re both perfectly happy to stay here forever, and for a while they do.

But then Will pulls away, eyes wide. Lucas stares at his mouth as he does it. God, they could stare at those lips post-kiss (red, puffy, _perfect_ ) all day.

“I, uh. I have one for you too.” Will says, timid.

“Huh?” Lucas says, rather eloquently, if you ask them.

“A Valentine. I made you one.” He sticks a hand into his front pocket, pulling out a folded piece of red paper. Lucas just stares at it.

This is…

They take the card. Unfold it gently. Will won’t look at them. Which is a bit silly, as they’ve been kissing for the past, like, two and a half minutes, there’s not much to be nervous about.

They read the card. In Will’s shaky handwriting, it says, _Will you be mine? To: Lucas From: Will_

Will doesn’t say anything, just stares at Lucas. His hands are shaking. Lucas’ mouth breaks out into a wide grin.

“Yeah, Will. I’ll be yours.”

Will smiles at them, pulls them in, and kisses them gently. His thumb presses against their cheekbone perfectly. It feels right.

Kissing Will feels right.

Lucas pulls away after a second, just to look at him. They could stare at him forever.

They smile, and kiss him again.

And that’s that.


End file.
